Suspension spring seat



L. SPUNT ET AL SUSPENSION SPRING SEAT May 3, 1949.

Filed NOV. 9, 1946 FIG. 1.

a Sheets-Sheet 1 y B/UCE A.

- INVENTOR. Leo .fipum 4 TTORNEKF May 3, 1949. s u T AL 2,469,216

SUSPENSION SPRING sm'r Filed Nov. 9, 1946* s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Leo Jpunf y Bruce 4. 6011/0 y 1949- V I L. SPUNT ET AL 2,469,216-

SUSPENSION SPRING SEAT Filed Nov. 9, 1946 3 Sheets-Sh'et 3 INVEN TOR.

Leo Jpunf y Bruce/Q 600/0 A TTORNE Y5 Patented May 3, 1949 SUSPENSION SPRING SEAT Leo Spunt, Detroit, and Bruce A. Gould, Highland Park, Micln, assi Corporation, Detroit,

Delaware gnors to General Motors Mich., a corporation of Application November 9, 1946, Serial No. 708,970

12 Claims. 1 This invention relates to seat cushions and seat cushion springs.

At the present time it is very desirable to have a seat which uses a minimum of spring wire. Spring wire is very short in supply and it is also desirable to eliminate as many pounds of spring wire as possible to help lighten the overall weight of the car, an objective that is now in the fore.

It is the object of the present invention to present a new design of seat cushion which accomplishes this objective and at the same time presents a very soft and comfortable seat which is well calculated to keep its shape.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective of the seat spring with part of the upholstering removed.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective of the seat spring viewed from the bottom of the spring.

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig, 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail showing how the wavy wire springs are anchored in place.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a cross section of the cushion showing a modified form.

The bottom frame is formed by a border wire 1 (see Fig. 2) which extends around the front ends and rear. At the ends the border wire is reinforced by a second bottom frame wire 2 which is welded to the rear portion of the outer border wire and extends around the curved corner of the frame and is welded to the front of the border wire. Extending from front to back are a plurality of cross frame members which will be designated cross struts 3. These are of relatively heavy sheet metal of triple channel section. At the rear they are bent up to form risers I and at the front the cross struts are looped up for about half the depth of the cushion to form inverted U supports 5. On the front leg of the U about a third of the way up the border frame I is united by welding. About a. third of the way up the rear leg of the U a folded or channel strip 6 is welded to the leg as at the point I (see Fig. 4). At the front side of the riser I a similar channel strip 8 is welded in place. Both these strips have lugs or clln portions 9 struck out which are adapted to be crimped over the ends of the wavy or sinuous wire spring strips I0. These sinuous wire strips are initially formed so that they form substantially a complete circle, and when they are mounted in place they are partially straightened out. This gives them more resistance to sagging,

but it is an old and familiar way of mounting this type of spring.

' The trouble with the sinuous wire type or steel band type of seat spring is that if it is made sufliciently strong to support the load it is unusually stiif and hard. We overcome this objection by so arranging our seat spring that the arched spring supports only part of the load and; consequently, these springs can be made lighter and less resistant and, consequently, they are not so stiff. To this end we support a web H by the suspension or tension springs l2. This web may be woven or it can be a very thin piece of flexible sheet steel. This is a sort of spring supported hammock or sling. These springs are suspended from an inner intermediate frame wire l3 at the front and a rear frame wire 14 at the back which is supported at the top of the risers 4. Frame wire i3 is welded to the top of the loops of the cross struts. Another frame wire I5 is welded to the top of the loops and clipped to these two wires [3 and i5 are the helical border springs i6 which are of light wire so as to yield easily. The border springs I60. in the modified form shown in Fig. 6 are not supported on the top of the cross strut loops but upon the cross strut forward of the loop, which here is not at the extreme front. The two base wires I and 42 are located on this portion 43 forward of the loop. This modified form affords a much longer edge spring Na and makes the edge of the cushion softer. Clipped to the top of these helical springs is an upper border frame of two wires Hand l8 which may be fiat wires or the front wire may be flat and the rear wire round. Sheet metal struts l9 tie the wires together and make them a border frame which has flexibility up and down by reason of the fiat wires and considerable rigidity in a horizontal direction. It also is well calculated to resist torsion strains because the clip or metal strut cannot pivot on the two flat wires. The outer wire is folded back at its rear end and clipped to the intermediate frame wire H3 at the point 20.

- This frame member can bend or hinge-up and down on this attachment 20.

The combined hammock and zig-zag wire spring forms a yieldable support that takes the place of the usual hour-glass type of springs or Marshall type springs that are used in seat cushions. The suspension springs I! are not stiff and these combined with the wavy wire springs give the yielding support for the cushion. The cushion is made up of several layers of padding which may be the ordinary cotton padding.

For example, there may be a layer of padding 2|, a layer of fiber 22, such as Mexican cactus fiber, another layer of padding 23 and a final layer of cotton batting 24, which also extends down at the front, as at 25. The trim material is desi nated 26 and extends over the upper layer of padding and down the front where it is secured to the downwardly extending cross strut by a trim channel 21. These cross struts have front legs that extend down below the seat cushion support (not shown) which supports the bottom of the seat frame. The border frame sharply defines the edge of the cushion and yet this border frame can bend and hinge on its connection at.

the bottom of the seat cushion frame and,:at the same time, the light helical springs used at the front and at the sides permits this hinging movement. The border frame also has some capacity to flex up and down so as to make the edge somewhat yieldable to the legs of the occupant, but at the same time gives the edge .of

the cushion a sharp definition at the front and at the sides.

The main support of the load, of course, is the combined hammock and sinuous wire arches. The strength of the tension springs and the stiffness of the wavy wire arches can be nicely coordinated to get the best results. It will be found that by reason of the two different types of springs, one set resisting compression thrusts and the other resisting tension stresses, much better results can be secured in giving softness to the cushion by reason of the fact that both the sets of springs can be made of lighter gauge material and both can be less stiff than would be the case if only one type of spring were used. Softness in the supporting structure is also attained by reason of using thicker stufling or thicker pads than is usually the case with the helical type of supporting springs. Thenecessary yield is at tained at the edge of the cushion by means of using the light helical springs and omitting most of the stufling here and substituting a swinging border frame that will give a sharp definition to the cushion but at the same time will permit the necessary yield at this point. i

What we claim is:

1. A spring seat construction, having in combination a substantially rectangular bottom.

frame, a plurality of upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, a spring-sus-g pended hammock or sling suspended from the frame and extended over the arches to cooperatei with the arches for yieldably supporting the load. 2. A spring seat construction, having in combination a. substantially rectangular bottom, frame, a plurality of wavy-wire, upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, a; sling supported spring-suspended hammock or from the frame and extended over the arches to cooperate with the arches for yieldably supporting the load, the said hammock or sling comprising a webbing and tension springs suspending the webbing from the frame.

3. A spring seat construction, having in combination a substantially rectangular bottom 1 frame, a plurality of upwardly-arched springs, extending crosswise of the frame, a spring-suspended hammock or sling suspended from the 1 frame and extended over the arches to. cooperate with the arches for yieldably supporting the load,

the said hammock or sling comprising webbing and tension springs suspending the webbing from the sides of the frame.

4. A spring seat construction, having in combination a. substantially rectangular bottom frame, a plurality of wavy-wire, upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, a spring-suspended hammock or sling supported from the frame and extended over the arches to cooperate with the arches for yieldably supporting the load, a .pad of yieldable material surmounting-the hammock and a trim coverover the pad, frame and springs.

5. A seat cushion, having in combination a substantially rectangular bottom frame, a plurality of upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, a spring-suspended hammock or sling suspended from the frame and extended over the arches to cooperate with the arches for yieldably supporting the load, helical wire springs suppported on the sides and front of the frame, padding mounted on the hammock and filling the space inside of the helical wire springs and a layer of the padding extending over the tops of the helical springs and down the front of the frame, and trimming material stretched over said padding and secured to the frame.

6. A seat cushion construction, having in combination a substantially rectangular bottom frame built ,up of wire and sheet metal cross struts, a plurality of upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, and a spring-suspended hammock or sling suspended from the frame and extended over the arches to cooperate with the arches for yieldably supporting the load, cross struts having ris'ers at one end and upstanding loops at the other end and wires supported thereon to suspend the springs and hammock.

7. A seat cushion construction, having in combination a substantially rectangular bottom frame built up of wire and sheet metal cross struts, a plurality of upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, a spring-suspended hammock or sling suspended from the frame and extended over the arches to cooperate with the arches for yieldably supporting the load, cross struts havin risers at one end and upstanding loops at the other end and linear members supported thereon to suspend the springs and hammock, and helical edge springs supported on linear members supported on the tops of the strut loops.

8. A seat cushion construction, having in combination a substantially rectangular bottom frame built up of wire and sheet metal'cross struts, a plurality of upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, a spring-suspended hammock or sling suspended from the frame and extended over the arches to cooperate with the members supported on springs.

9. A spring seat construction, having in com bination a substantially rectangular bottom frame, a plurality of upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, and a spring-' suspended hammock or sling suspended from the frame and extended over the arches to cooperate with the arches for yieldably supporting the load, said frame having cross. struts with upturned ends supportin linear members, one set of which anchors the ends other set of which suspends tension springs for supporting the hammock upon the arched springs.

10. A spring seat construction, having in combination a substantially rectangular bottom frame, a plurality of upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, and a springsuspended hammock or sling supported from the frame and extended over the arches to cooperate with the arches for yieldably supporting the load, the said frame comprisin wire frame members connected from front to rear by cross struts, each with an upstanding loop at the front and a riser at the rear, channel strips supported by the loop and risers to anchor the arched spring ends, linear members supported by the loops and risers and springs suspended therefrom to support the hammock.

11. A spring seat construction, having in com- 'binatlon a substantially rectangular bottom frame, a plurality of upwardly-arched springs extending crosswise of the frame, a spring-suspended hammock or sling supported on the top of the frame and extended over the arches to cooperate with the arches for yieldably supporting the load, the said frame made up of wires and sheet metal channel section cross struts fastened of the arched springs, and the 6 together-{the struts having upstanding ends supportin linear members which in turn support the ends of the arched springs and the hammock.

12. A spring seat construction, having .in combination a substantially rectangular bottom frame, a plurality of upwardly-arched sinuous wire springs extending crosswise of the frame, a

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Zundel July 16, 1935 Foote Feb. '1, 1939 Nordmark Asaro Flint Apr.

Number Dec. 2, 1941 17, 1945 June 24, 1941 

